


Force Annihilation

by QueenOfCarrotFlowers



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Annihilation AU, F/M, Rated M for very minor mention of sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-09-25 00:45:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfCarrotFlowers/pseuds/QueenOfCarrotFlowers
Summary: A Resistance team crash-lands on an uncharted planet, with unfortunate results.





	Force Annihilation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [incognitajones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/incognitajones/gifts).



> Thanks as always to my beta LoveThemFiercely

Rey is wide awake and immediately disoriented. 

She’s lying on a pallet, in what appears to be a tent. Why would she be in a tent? She’s fully dressed, in her grey tunic and leggings, but her arm wraps are gone. It’s warm, the air feels damp, and as she acclimates she can hear the light sound of rain dribbling on the surface of the tent. It’s a calming sound, and she slows her breathing to match its rhythm. 

Rain isn’t the only sound; there are voices, too, but they are quiet, far away and somehow misty, and she can’t make out what they are saying. As she sits up and looks around she realizes that she has not been alone in this tent. There is a second pallet, pushed right up next to hers, and the blankets have clearly been shared across them. She casts her memory back, but there is nothing there to explain this. The last thing she remembers, the very last…

With a gasp she’s pulled on her boots and a rain cover and then she’s out of the tent, following the voices. She’s in a jungle, the ground is covered with vegetation and mud that squelches underfoot. The trees are tall and thin, and they appear to be covered with leaves as well as draped with vines. The foliage is so thick she can barely see the sky, aside from a ragged rent that must mark the path of the ship as it made its way to the ground. There is a sun, at least one, but its light is distorted. There’s something up there, something between the trees and the sky. A shimmer. 

Her head throbs.

Rey skirts an especially sizable tree and there are Finn and Rose, sitting on the ground, surrounded by packets of food. Poe is nearby picking through what looks like comms and other related equipment. There are two other tents arranged around this slight clearing, and beyond is the wreckage of the ship they’d been flying when it happened.

That was the last thing Rey remembered. The engines. The uncharted planet. The crash.

“What the hell?” Rey says to none of them, to all of them.

“Good, you’re finally awake.” The voice is off to her left, a deep voice. Ben’s voice. She turns to him as he stands up; with a breathed _thank the maker_ they embrace. He is warm and solid in her arms, and he smells of dampness and musk. She wants to cry.

Instead, she asks, “Were you with me? In the tent?” He nods. “And did we…” she trails off, not really wanting to ask the question.

He holds her face, traces her lower lip with his thumb. “I don’t think so. I was dressed, so were you.” And then, more quietly, even though their friends were very pointedly ignoring them now, “Do you feel like we did?”

She takes a moment to feel inside her skin, and shakes her head in response. “No, I just… I don’t remember. I would want to remember that.” He chuckles. “But I don’t remember _anything_. I remember the crash, and then… nothing.”

Ben pulls her to him again, and Finn stands up. “None of us do. But check your tent; you’ll have dirty clothes in there, covered in mud. We all did.”

“We’ve been doing an inventory of the food, too,” Rose added. “From the depletion in our stocks, we’ve been here for at least three, maybe four standard days.”

Rey glances at all her friends, in turn, and finally to Ben. “That’s not possible.”

“Do you want to know what’s weird?” It’s Poe, from his position crouching in the midst of the equipment.

Ben huffs. “I want to know what _isn’t_ weird.”

Poe ignores him and lifts a comm up so they can all see. He turns it on, and the sound of solid static emanates from its small speaker. He quickly turns it off. “I’ve been checking all the equipment, and none of it is working properly. Everything boots up just fine, but there’s no signal. It’s like we’re in the middle of the most massive electromagnetic interference. There’s no way to contact anyone off-planet - or on-planet either, assuming there are any sentient life-forms here.”

Ben exhales. “So our only hope is going to be fixing the ship, isn’t it.” 

“Looks like it. We sure can’t call for help. Unless…” Ben raises an eyebrow at him. “I mean, unless you can use the Force, or something.”

Rey trades a glance with Ben. The Force… she hadn’t thought about the Force since she woke up. She can’t feel it at all, and she realizes that she’s been blocking it. So she opens to it, just a bit, and is overwhelmed at once. The planet is full of life, full of power, and she feels it all, she feels _everything_ , but there is no balance. It is as though the Force is bending back on itself, over and over again, trapped and ragged and thick and _broken_. And there’s yelling, and she’s falling, and then she opens her eyes to find that she is on the ground with her head in Ben’s lap, and he’s gazing down at her, and her friends standing in a group, further away, holding each other and staring at her with terror in their eyes.

Ben attempts a smile but it just makes him look worried. “No Force?” She shakes her head, and he helps her up.

Rose steps away from the other two and clears her throat. “Okay, the ship is it, then. Rey, I need you to help me look at it, see what it’ll take to get it fixed enough to leave, okay?”

Rey nods and leans into Ben one more time. He gives her a kiss on her temple and she slowly follows Rose to the ship.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear incognitajones,
> 
> I was just tickled to see that you like Annihilation, because I like it too! And I thought a canonverse AU might be fun. Sorry it's a little sad... I think they will make it off the planet and all will be well.
> 
> Happy new year!
> 
> Anonymous


End file.
